Wednesday 22 October 2014

BACK ON THE BLOG WITH PHOTO STUDENTS

I am delighted to be back on this space, after a long spell that saw me doing several erands, both locally and elsewhere.
I have enjoyed looking at many photographs and interacting with photographers. I am glad to mention that for sometime now, I have been mentoring several students of journalism in Lusaka. These students are taking photojournalism as one of their subjects. Our journey in photography and photojournalism in particular has been a wonderful experience. It has been a challenge in many cases as well since I have had to mentor individuals from the basics of photography and photojournalism to producing photo-stories.
The journey has been challenging because I have been dealing with some of the individuals who have never pressed a shutter button or seen through the viewfinder.
However, the results have been wonderful and encouraging. The students have a great passion for photography and visual storytelling. We say that there is no bad picture on photography and this is what is coming and we are putting a lot of context in our work. We do hope our critics would find lots of meaning in the work being produced by these passionate students.


Mary Nakamba who dropped out of school because she has to fetch water for her ailing grandparents captured in a pensive mood at her home in Lusaka’s Kuku Township on April 27th, 2014. Photo By LEWIS CHANGWE.

I will be sharing some of the photographs on this platform as a way of showcasing the talents for these upcoming shooters. Lewis changwe is one of my students who has shared his photo above.
We are currently in the pre-planning stages for a photo exhibition in Lusaka and we are going to look for any partnerships for us to turn this event into a quarterly activity.
We to encourage more people to take photography and just to allow a lot of people in Zambia tell stories and to express themselves more critically through pictures.
Photography and photojournalism has become an important aspect of self expression. People and journalists in particular are enjoying their expression of expression and press freedom respectively more than ever before and this has been exacerbated by new technologies such as digital gadgets and the internet.
For now, enjoy viewing some of the pictures from our team and if you are in Lusaka, look out for this gang and be sure to see us soon at one of the shopping malls.